CHAPTER XVII
AN ORNAMENTED BEARD
It was about the middle of the afternoon when a large boat, well filled,was seen approaching the Revenge from Blackbeard's vessel. As soon as ithad become known that this chief of all pirates of that day, this EdwardThatch of England, was really coming on board the Revenge, not one wordwas uttered among the crew on the subject of going ashore, although theyhad been long at sea. The shore could wait when Blackbeard was coming.Even to look upon this doughty desperado would be an honour and a joy tothe brawny scoundrels who made up the crew of the Revenge.
It might have been supposed that everything upon Captain Bonnet's vesselhad been made ready for the expected advent of Blackbeard, but nothingseemed good enough, nothing seemed as effectively placed and arranged asit might have been; and with execrations and commands, Bonnet hurriedhere and there, making everything, if possible, more ship-shape than ithad been before.
"Stay you two in the background," he said to Ben Greenway and Dickory;"you are both landsmen, and you don't count in a ceremony such as thisis going to be. Station your men as I told you, Bittern, and man theyards when it is time."
Captain Bonnet, in his brave uniform and wearing a cocked hat with afeather, his hand upon his sword-hilt, stood up tall and stately. Whenthe boat was made fast and the great pirate's head appeared above therail, six cannon roared a welcome and Bonnet stepped forward, handextended and hat uplifted.
The instant Blackbeard's feet touched the deck he drew from theirholsters a pair of pistols and fired them in the air.
"Now then," he shouted, "we are even, salute for salute, for my pistolsare more than equal to the cannon of any other man. How goes it withyou, Sir Nightcap--Bonnet, I mean?" And with that he clasped the handreached out to him in a bone-crushing grasp.
His fingers aching and his brain astonished, Bonnet could not comprehendwhat sort of a man it was who stood before him. With hair purposelydishevelled; with his hat more slouched than usual; with his bearddivided into tails, each tied with a different-coloured ribbon; withhalf a dozen pistols strung across his breast; with other pistols and aknife or two stuck into his belt; with his great sword by his side, andhis eyes gleaming brighter than ever and a general expression, both inface and figure, of an aggressive impudence, Blackbeard stood on hisstout legs, clothed in rough red stockings, and gazed about him. But thecaptain of the Revenge did not forget his manners. He welcomedBlackbeard with all courtesy and besought him to enter his poor cabin.
Blackbeard laughed. "Poor cabin, say you? But I'll tell you this onething, my valiant Captain Cap; you have not a poor vessel, not a poorvessel, I swear that to you, my brave captain, I swear that!"
Then, with no attention to Bonnet's invitation, Captain Blackbeardstrolled about the deck, examining everything, cursing this and praisingthat, and followed by Captain Bonnet, Black Paul, and a crowd ofadmiring pirates.
Ben Greenway bowed his head and groaned. "I doubt if Master Bonnet willever go to the de'il as I feared he would, for now has the de'il come tohim. Oh, Dickory, Dickory! this master o' mine was a worthy mon an' agood ane when I first came to him, an' a' that I hae I owe to him, for Iwas in sad case, Dickory, very sad case; but now that he has Apollyonfor his teacher, he'll cease to know righteousness altogither."
Dickory was angry and out of spirits. "He is a vile poltroon, thismaster of yours," said he, "consorting with these bloody pirates andleaving his daughter to pine away her days and nights within a littlesail of him, while he struts about at the heel of a dirty freebooterdressed like a monkey! He doesn't deserve the daughter he possesses. Oh,that I could find a ship that would take me back to Jamaica! And I wouldtake you too, Ben Greenway, for it is a foul shame that a good manshould spend his days in such vile company."
Ben shook his head. "I'll stand by Master Bonnet," he said, "until theday comes when I shall bid him fareweel at the door o' hell. I can go nofarther than that, Dickory, no farther than that!"
From forecastle to quarter-deck, from bowsprit to taffrail, Blackbeardscrutinized the Revenge.
"What mean you, dog?" he said to Bittern, Bonnet being at a littledistance; "you tell me he is no mariner. This is a brave ship and wellappointed."
"Ay, ay," said the sailing-master, "it has the neatness of his kitchenor his storehouses; but if his cables were coiled on his yard-arms orhis anchor hung up to dry upon the main shrouds, he would not know thatanything was wrong. It was Big Sam Loftus who fitted out the Revenge,and I myself have kept everything in good order and ship-shape eversince I took command."
"Command!" growled Blackbeard. "For a charge of powder I would knock inthe side of your head for speaking with such disrespect of the brave SirNightcap."
The supper in the cabin of the Revenge was a better meal than thevoracious Blackbeard had partaken of for many a year, if indeed he hadever sat down to such a sumptuous repast. Before him was food and drinkfit for a stout and hungry sea-faring man, and there were wines anddainties which would have had fit place upon the table of a gentleman.
Blackbeard was in high spirits and tossed off cup after cup and glassafter glass of the choicest wine and the most fiery spirits. He clappedhis well-mannered host upon the back as he shouted some fragment of awild sea-song.
"And who is this?" he cried, as they rose from the table and he firstcaught sight of Ben Greenway. "Is this your chaplain? He looks assanctimonious as an empty rum cask. And that baby boy there, what do youkeep him for? Are they for sale? I would like to buy the boy and let himkeep my accounts. I warrant he has enough arithmetic in his head todivide the prize-moneys among the men."
"He is no slave," said Bonnet; "he came to this vessel to bring me amessage from my daughter, but he is an ill-bred stripling, and canneither read nor write."
"Then let's kill him!" cried Blackbeard, and drawing his pistol he senta bullet about two inches above Dickory's head.
At this the men who had gathered themselves at every available point setup a cheer. Never before had they beheld such a magnificent and recklessmiscreant.
Dickory did not start or move, but he turned very pale, and then hereddened and his eyes flashed. Blackbeard swore at him a greatapprobative oath. "A brave boy!" he cried, "and fit to carry messages iffor nothing else. And what is this nonsense about a daughter?" said heto Bonnet. "We abide no such creatures in the ranks of the freecompanions; we drown them like kittens before we hoist the Jolly Roger."
When Blackbeard's boat left the ship's side the departing chieftainfired his pistols in the air as long as their charges lasted, while themotley desperadoes of the Revenge gave him many a parting yell. Then allthe boats of the Revenge were lowered, and every man who could crowdinto them left their ship for the shore. Black Paul tried to restrainthem, for he feared to leave the Revenge too weakly manned, she havingsuch a valuable cargo; but his orders and shouts were of no avail, anddespairing of stopping them the sailing-master went with them; and asthey pulled wildly towards the town the men of one boat shouted toanother, and that one to another, "Hurrah for our captain, the brave SirNightcap! Hurrah! Hurrah! Hurrah!"
"The dirty Satan!" exclaimed Dickory, as he gazed after Blackbeard'sboat. "I would kill him if I could."
"Say not so, Dickory," said Captain Bonnet, speaking gravely. "Thatgreat pirate is not a man of breeding, and he speaks with disesteemalike of friend and enemy, but he is the famous Blackbeard, and we musttreat him with honour although he pays us none."
"I had deemed," said Greenway calmly, "that ye were goin' to be themaist unholy sinner that ever blackened this fair earth; but not onlydid ye tell a pious lie for the sake o' good Dickory, but, compared wi'that monstrosity, ye are a saint graved in marble, Master Bonnet, awhite and shapely saint."
* * * * *
Blackbeard's boat was not rowed to his vessel, but his men pulledsteadily shoreward.
With the wild crew of the Revenge, fresh from sea and their appetiteswhetted for jovial riot, and with Blackbeard, his war-paint on, to l
eadthem into every turbulent excess, there were wild times in the town ofBelize that night.